One of the most common metabolic problems among people today is obesity. This condition is primarily due to ingestion of a greater number of calories than are expended. Fat is the most concentrated form of energy in the diet, with each gram of fat supplying approximately 9 calories. Overall, fat constitutes about 40% of the total calories in the diet.
Triglycerides constitute about 90% of the total fat consumed in the average diet. One method by which the caloric value of edible fat could be lowered would be to decrease the amount of triglyceride that is absorbed in the human system since the usual edible triglyceride fats are almost completely absorbed (see Lipids, 2, H. J. Deuel, Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York 1955, page 215). A low calorie fat offers a convenient and practical method by which obesity can be prevented or overcome.
Low calorie fats which can replace triglycerides are described by Mattson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,600,186 to Mattson et al. discloses low calorie, fat-containing, food compositions in which at least a portion of the triglyceride content is replaced with a polyol fatty acid ester, said polyol fatty acid ester having at least four fatty acid ester groups with each fatty acid having from 8 to 22 carbon atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,196 to Jandacek et al. discloses the low calorie fat-containing food compositions of the Mattson et al. patent, in combination with sufficient fat-soluble vitamin selected from the group consisting of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K.
The esters disclosed in the Mattson et al. and Jandacek et al. patents are effective fat substitutes for use in low calorie food products. Unfortunately, regular ingestion of moderate to high levels of these esters can produce an undesirable "laxative" effect, namely, leakage of the ester through the anal sphincter. One way to prevent this undesirable laxative effect is to formulate the esters so that they are completely solid at body temperature.
Another means of preventing the undesirable laxative effect is through the addition to the ester of anti-anal leakage agents such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,195 to Jandacek. This patent discloses anti-anal leakage agents which include solid fatty acids (melting point 37.degree. C. or higher) and their triglyceride source, and solid polyol fatty acid polyesters. Specifically, the agents are selected from the group consisting of: edible C.sub.12 and higher saturated fatty acids, and their edible salts; edible, digestible sources of C.sub.12 and higher saturated fatty acids; edible, nonabsorbable, nondigestible solid polyol fatty acid polyesters having at least 4 fatty acid ester groups, wherein the polyol is selected from the group consisting of sugars and sugar alcohols containing from 4 to 8 hydroxyl groups and wherein each fatty acid group has from about 8 to about 22 carbon atoms; and edible, nondigestible esters of alpha-branched chain C.sub.10 -C.sub.18 fatty acids.
The completely solid esters refered to above, and solid triglycerides or esters used as anti-anal leakage agents, have drawbacks when used in low calorie food compositions. An ester or triglyceride having a high solids content tastes "waxy" in the mouth when ingested. It would be desirable to have a substitute for triglyceride fats that is still effective at reducing calories, but that does not taste waxy in the mouth. At the same time, it is critical that this fat substitute not produce an undesired laxative effect.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a composition, useful as a fat substitute in foods, which does not taste waxy in the mouth when ingested.
It is another object of this invention to provide a composition made with low calorie fat materials, so that food products made with the composition are low in calories.
It is a further object of the present invention to avoid a laxative side effect without having to add anti-anal leakage agents.
These and other objects of the invention will be made clear by the disclosure herein.